Mike Theiler/AP Images Rocket Man: President Trump, pictured here signing the GOP tax bill, claimed the act would be "rocket fuel for the economy." It wasn't. This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here . T hirty seconds into the president’s remarks at a South Lawn White House event last December celebrating congressional passage of the Republican Tax Act—with virtually the entire Republican caucus standing behind him—Donald Trump held up a piece of paper. “This just came out—two minutes ago—they handed it to me.” He reported AT&T was making a capital investment of a billion dollars and giving 200,000 employees each a $1,000 bonus. Paul Ryan smiled over Trump’s left shoulder, Mike Pence over his right. “And that’s because of what we did. So that’s pretty good. That’s pretty good.” It was more than pretty good. As public relations, it was brilliant. Corporate America had begun rolling out a propaganda campaign aimed at...

Like most of Donald Trump’s policy agenda (and the rest of his career and life), the GOP tax cut has been sold on bluster, exaggeration, and outright lies. Here are ten of the biggest myths associated with the 2017 Republican Tax Act.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, conduct a news conference on the GOP tax bill in December 2017. This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here . 1. It Will Pay for Itself. Even though the Trump tax cuts were originally estimated to lose $1.5 trillion in revenue, supporters claimed the shortfall would be made up through greater economic activity generating more tax revenue at lower rates. No reputable economist agreed. Now, the latest estimate from the Congressional Budget Office is that the Tax Act will in fact add $1.9 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next ten years. We also now know how Trump really intends to pay for his tax cuts: with $1.7 trillion in spending cuts to vital public services, including Medicare, which he promised he’d never touch. Other funding cuts in Trump’s proposed budget include more than $750...